Writing funny is hard work, yo.
My mom often asks me when I'm going to write a funny book. This is probably because I like to share the funny things I notice in my life on social media most days or because I wrote a short story series called Nick & Amy, very loosely based on my own marriage, that was on purpose, over the top funny, or because in real life, a sense of humor is my favorite thing about a person, and making someone really laugh is like winning the lottery.
I like writing funny, but the truth is, it's actually really hard to write an entire book that way. Like really exhausting. Maybe it's because most funny things often start from a place of pain or trauma. Most funny people and comedians have a hard childhood or early trauma where humor can be the salve, but funny usually means really vulnerable, honest, and raw, and it takes a lot of effort to sit in that space for a chunk of time. Whatever the reason, it's hard work. My next project IS funny, and I promise you, it's been the hardest to finish to make it continually amusing all the way through. In fact, it's still not close to ready.
Personally, writing the tough stuff is like bonus therapy, and it's the reason I hang out here most often. It's a way to work through real-life emotions and situations you can't undo or redo. On the page, I can write it how I wish it had gone. I can make the adults in the book do what they should have done. I can play out the consequences of their actions in hopes that they resonate with a reader. Lots of authors make the joke, "Be careful, or I'll kill you off in my next book." That's not the genre I write, but I will absolutely give you a traumatic childhood or life event and help you heal from it while I heal something in myself, hopefully without being too preachy, so we can all learn something about ourselves together.
Last night, I got a message from someone who read Weight of Water. She said it was the exact book she needed right now to feel connected and seen as an adult who was learning to be brave and move on from a messy relationship with a parent who couldn't choose her.
And that's it, friends. It's the whole damn reason I wanted to be a writer in the first place. If I feel this, then maybe you do. Feeling it together has to be better than feeling it alone. And if I write it down on paper, share it, and heal a piece of myself along the way, it may connect with and change you, too. And the world spins madly on...
A funny book is coming, but in the meantime, Weight of Water will have to do. There are some smoochy parts mixed with the serious if that entices you. So, come meet Quinn and her friends.
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THE WEIGHT OF WATER
The majority of Quinn Keaton’s life has been spent living in the shadow of her mother’s debilitating grief. After her brother Griffin's accidental drowning sixteen years ago, her mother retreated from the world with Quinn in tow. Water, strangers, heartache, and the unknown become possible threats to their small, safe life, so she created an insulated bubble where nothing could harm them. But now, Quinn isn't sure where her own insecurities and fears begin and where her mother's end. When an opportunity arises for Quinn to spend her senior year abroad at an English boarding school, her mother demands she turn it down and threatens to disown her if she goes. Quinn's first act of rebellion opens the door to what her life could be if she is brave enough to live it. As her world expands in England with new friends and a chance at love, Quinn wonders how she can ever go back to her previous life, even if it means letting her mother go.
The real fun is about to begin!
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Happy Reading!
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